![MaritimeJournal[Seawork]](https://www.maritimejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/MaritimeJournalSeawork.svg)
MDL upgrades Fanbeam positioning system – by David Goodfellow
Measurement Devices Ltd has upgraded the tracking and data handling capability of its widely used Fanbeam laser positioning system for hydrographic survey, offshore and dredging control applications.
The privately owned company, which has bases in Aberdeen and York UK as well as Houston USA, says that new software developed and tested over the last 18 months ensures intelligent target clutter rejection and rapid discounting of unwanted targets among several advances.
Other refinements include vertical tilting during tracking, allowing users to easily adjust angles without having to stop tracking a target. Fully automatic target filtering using historical signal strength data for setting target rejection data is also possible as part of moves to increase general reliability and capability of systems.
Among the first customers to acquire a Fanbeam system with the new software is Solstad Offshore ASA of Norway, which operates over 40 construction, anchor handling and supply vessels worldwide on behalf of the international oil and gas industries. Its purchase followed extensive trials of a unit while operating in the Murchison and Ninian North Sea oilfields.
